TEACHING IN SPAIN: AN EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY EXPERIENCE FROM THE SMALL PERSONAL BLACKBOARD TO THE DIGITAL BOARD. 

 

 

My name is Domingo González and I teach Spanish language and literature in the Secondary Obligatory School QUERCUS, in El Encinar, a neighbourhood 16 kms. far from Salamanca. In Latin ‘quercus’ means ‘holm oak’. Our school is surrounded by a beautiful forest of holm oaks. My students are 12-14 years old. 

I always wanted to be a teacher so I studied to become a Primary School teacher. Along thirty-two years I have been giving lessons to students from 3-14 years old, and I have taught almost all the subjects they study at this age, but what I like most is teaching Spanish language and literature, that is why I completed my studies studying Spanish philology. Aware of the importance of speaking languages in a globalized world, I studied English philology and some Italian language courses. 

As a child, in the primary school in my village, the essential educational material was the small personal blackboard. Some decades later, the use of digital tablets is widespread in the classroom. When I compare the two objects, I wonder if the way students learn has changed as much as the way how we teach. 

I am lucky because I have the job I like. I enjoy teaching, the relationship with my students. Giving a lesson is an act of teaching. I like teaching. Should I say I like to educate, which is a more politically correct verb? The word teaching has been replaced by education. Traditionally, family was the upbringing place and you were taught at school. Teaching is difficult, I think education is even more; that is why society wants teachers to play the role of educators. There is difference between teaching and education, at least in the Spanish language. Years ago schools were named ‘teaching centres’ and now they are called ‘educational centres’. Teachers or educators, What are we supposed to be? At University we were prepared to be teachers. Where can we learn to be educators? There are no answers to these questions, at least from the educational authorities. 

Bureaucracy has introduced many new words in the world of education, and to understand the concepts they represent is difficult. Most of the times these are words that confuse teachers, parents and students. I envy the accuracy and conservatism of educational terminology of the Anglo-Saxon culture: it has not changed so much and is more accurate. In the U.K it is not necessary to take lessons to understand the educational terminology, in Spain yes: dare to attend an educational conference and you 

will leave the place with the impression of not having understood a word. What a frustration! And all this happens because the name of the things has been changed, or because they were moved around. From time to time, the educational-political lobby imposes a new lexicon that makes ignorant to a generation of teachers. If the traditional terminology is great and communicative, Why to do this? In fact, we teachers continue calling a spade a spade: a very typical piece of advice of any culture. 

Regarding the concepts of teaching and education, I'd rather focus the issue on teaching. The word education is ambiguous. In English people say "I like teaching", they do not say "I like education". I do not like the educational system we have, neither the one we will have with the new law. I do not show more interest in it that the one officially required; everybody knows that no sooner the government changes, it will be replaced by a new one. It is always like this. 

While educational systems are designed by politicians and policymakers together with the pedagogical-psychological lobby, who, for their high skills, since long time ago have no contact with the classroom or never had, the educational system will always fail. But school will continue fulfilling its function because teaching is a different task to that designed by official policy. Teaching is a personal challenge and risk that teachers assume in their interaction with their students, and this issue has been clear since the schools in the ancient Greece. 

Education, due to its social importance and the involved interests, is always a hot topic in Spain; Most of the teachers are politically correct when they talked about this topic and they even seem to follow the official guidelines, with which, moreover, they often disagree. Danish fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen “The Emperor's new clothes” may clarify what I want to mean.. 

Concerning education there are, in my opinion, two main sensibilities in Spain, one is bureaucratic and the other is practical. I have a few reservations about bureaucratic education, whose meaning and intentionality is lost in terminologies so complicated that teachers have to take courses to understand and digest. On the other hand, there is a practical education, this is taught in the classroom, in the hallways and playgrounds of the schools, in extracurricular activities. This education, that the educational system designed by the establishment ignores, is what interests me and I became a teacher to put it into practice. This sense of education does not depend on regulations and laws dictated from control positions away from the battlefield, but on vocation and personal 

commitment of teachers. I think education has an individual and a social projection: is teaching students to be useful to themselves and also to society. This is the first definition I learned, after it theory-makers have tried to teach me others. 

In my understanding of education, in addition to circumstances and personal experiences have influenced some teachers and colleagues. I still remember the time when I had the first critical reflection on teaching. At that time, I was a very young teacher who was starting, loaded with university knowledge and theoretical know-how, on the contrary he was a mature teacher whom I considered simple in his approaches. One day, in a debate, after listening patiently to the lecture of a colleague, teacher of Spanish language, who complained of the difficulty of students aged 12 to understand what a hiatus was, he intervened saying: forget the hiatus! 

The moral of this story sums up my feelings in daily classroom activity: following all the official educational guidelines we will waste a precious time teaching vanities. A critical attitude is essential. So often we focus on teaching, but it is learning that matters most. Teachers use to be more concerned about teaching things that about allowing students to learn them. Teachers’ challenge is that students learn useful things, and train them to put into practice what they know. Teaching sensibility to appreciate art also falls within the useful, of course. 

To conclude these reflections, I want to mention what I like and dislike in the world of education. 

I dislike the lack of support and recognition of our work by educational authorities, I disapprove that education is designed by politicians not counting with teachers, I do not like that authorities boast of successes when they are of teachers. Educational authorities’ distrust hurts and discourages me deeply. One feature of the Spanish educational system is the lack of opportunities for promotion and motivation for teachers. I find hard to follow guidelines imposed by those who have never been teachers. I remain unconvinced if I am directed by those who left school to take other jobs in the education system (experts, inspectors, consultants…). They like education, I do like teaching. 

I like the atmosphere of my school, the relationship with other colleagues, the school activities we do, the appreciation of many families and the relationship with my students: when a student tells you Don´t change! or Can I give you a hug? ... those moments are unforgettable.